Army chief age row should be settled in an honourable way

Even now, it is not too late to douse the controversy eating up the reputation, primarily, of defence minister AK Antony and the UPA government and, secondarily, of the Indian Army. The controversy over the date of birth of chief of army staff Gen V K Singh should be settled in an honourable fashion. The General, apparently, is more interested in getting his age record straightened out and his name cleared than in how long he stays on as army chief. He has reportedly no problem stepping down when the government wants him to. But the common people do have a problem, for a matter of principle is involved. The matter of principle is straightforward: a plan to anoint a particular person as chief of the army staff besmirching the name of an honourable soldier should not succeed. If a section of the army brass deliberately got Gen V K Singh’s date of birth recorded as May 10, 1950, instead of May 10, 1951, the only reason would be to ensure that Gen Singh retired in time to allow a favoured person to succeed him as the army chief. If Gen Singh’s year of birth is 1951, he would retire a year later, and so would the intended successor, leaving the coveted post of army chief to someone else. The precise identity of the favoured successor and of the successor were Gen Singh to stay on till 2013 is immaterial. The choice of India’s army chief should not be determined by a conspiracy. If the civilian government has to establish its authority over the armed forces fully and completely, it is in demonstrating and consolidating this principle, not by insisting it has the writ to determine when someone was born. If it wants to, the government can askGen Singh to go tomorrow, after setting his age record straight; but then, it should follow through by appointing as his successor not the intended beneficiary of a probable conspiracy but someone else. V K Singh was born in an army hospital. The army keeps records of births and deaths. Army records show that Singh was born on May 10, 1951. His matriculation certificate says he was born on that date. It is in an application form submitted to the National Defence Academy that the 1950 date appears. The General’s case is that the application form was filled by the staff of his school, who made an error. He sought to rectify this error time and again, after he joined the service. This application form was the basis for a wrong date entering his official records. In a telling comment on the efficiency of administration in the Indian Army, two sets of records were maintained in the army as to his date of birth, one in the Military Secretary’s branch and the other in the Adjutant General’s office. The Adjutant General’s office is supposed to be the official record keeper and the citations accompanying V K Singh’s many medals carry the date of birth May 10, 1951.